Every company has at least one. Or should have at least one. Hopefully for the sake of their long-term success, every company has several. They do not take a back seat, or at least don’t want to. And they can be identified across sectors and across cultures as people who will not accept not being noticed for their achievements. They are not afraid to sell either their product or their own performance. They are not afraid of others’ opinion of them. They may be humble, not braggarts, or cocky and brash, but through their performance they are speaking to you subliminally or even dramatically and the message is “I’m here and you WILL pay attention to what I’ve got to offer”. They have more or less of a lasting effect or impression on their peers, their customers or their fans. But they are not deterred.
In short, they demand the stage.
Steve Jobs was the quintessential model of just such an individual. More so than most. He was not going to die before challenging himself and everyone around him, including the entire world, to “think different” and “change the world”. His legacy was solidified years ago, and after the Apple II he would not have had to add the long list of other achievements to his list just to have a dignified place in history. But he just kept going, relentless, driven, impervious to his detractors and sure of what the public wanted, no, needed.
He was also the epitome of bull-headed persistence, Steve Jobs never gave up on the many occasions when giving up may have seemed the more practical course. Booted unceremoniously from the company HE founded. Just over a decade later, returning to his company only to find it on it’s death bed, then rescuing it from the ashes. In early 2000, the formidable shadow of Microsoft loomed large and a plethora of computer and tech companies were well ahead of Apple in market share, customer awareness and capital. Giants like Sony, Nokia, Google and many others were breathing down his, and Apple’s neck. Yet Apple now has dominant market share in every category in which it participates. And on a personal level, Steve himself had been a victim of cancer and yet still had enough left in him to continue to contribute iconic products to the world.
Recently I listened to his speech to the Standford graduation class. It was a very heartfelt and passionate speech about his pitfalls and successes, without any ego or bravado. In one part of the speech he talked specifically about death and how he’d consistently used it as motivation, especially in moments of doubt and confusion. But he also pointed out that despite it’s inevitability, death is “very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new”.
It’s hard to imagine someone coming along to take the place of a man like Steve Jobs, but his legacy may just be enough of an inspiration to the “new”. It’s my belief that he was exactly what the world needed, and it is my hope that when I die I leave even a scintilla of the legacy that he has.
RIP, Mr. Jobs.
